01 · What happened
Deloitte Australia wrote an independent assurance review for the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, about the IT system that automates penalties in the welfare system. The contract was worth about A$440,000. After the report was published in July 2025, a University of Sydney researcher found references to academic works that do not exist and a fabricated quote from a Federal Court judgment.
02 · Reported cause
The revised report states that a generative AI tool, Azure OpenAI GPT-4o, was used in preparing it. The fabricated references and the quote were not caught before publication. Deloitte said the corrections do not affect the substantive content, findings and recommendations.
03 · What they changed
A revised version, published on 26 September 2025, corrected the references and disclosed the AI use. Deloitte agreed to refund the final instalment of the contract.
04 · Sources
Facts on this page are limited to what these sources report. Checked in September 2026.